14 Surprisingly Dirty Things You Aren't Vacuuming—but Should

Your vacuum cleaner may just be your secret weapon in the fight against grime. Odds are, while you're doing a great job tackling your floors, rugs, and upholstery, there may be some hidden pockets of ick that you're missing, and your vacuum cleaner can come to the rescue.

Take a look at this list of secretly dirty spots in your home, and learn how your vacuum can help you power through them in no time flat.

1. Blinds and Curtains

Your window coverings need a good cleaning! You can use the vacuum with a soft brush attachment to attack the dust in both your curtains and your blinds. You'll want to vacuum your blinds at least every two weeks, and curtains at least monthly.

2. Mattress

Not to get too gross about it, but spending eight (or so) hours a day camped out on your mattress can lead to dead skin cells, dust, dust mites, and other ick embedded in your mattress.

Mattresses should be vacuumed at least twice a year, but you may want to give it a good vacuum more often if you have allergies or just like a nice, clean place to nap.

3. Pillows

Bed pillows get even more of the ick from your hair and face as you sleep—and throw pillows are regularly exposed to snack crumbs, pet hair, and other couch debris. A regular vacuuming can help keep your pillows clean in between deep cleans in the washing machine.

4. Pantry Shelves

Crumbs and spills happen—and they can help invite pests of various sorts into your pantry with a smorgasbord of delights. To help keep mice and other pests out of your flour and sugar, opt to vacuum shelves and the floor of your pantry at least twice a year—and keep a mini vac handy for whenever you discover spilled rice or other messes.

5. Book Collection

Whether you're an avid reader or just jumped on the "bookshelf wealth" style trend, your shelves are likely well stocked with an array of books that can take forever to dust.

The solution: Your vacuum and the brush attachment. You can use that to easily remove a layer of dust from your books.

6. Garages and Sheds

Yep, your garage and shed can get very dirty, fast—and that dirt and mess can build up on your flooring and create a hazardous (and unsightly) mess. Break out the shop vac every few months—or whenever you notice something spilled—to keep it in shape.

7. Your Oven

Before and after a deep oven cleaning, you can use your vacuum to clear away the burnt bits and crumbs at the bottom to make cleaning a much easier affair.

8. Air Conditioner

During peak summer, you'll find that dust collects very quickly around your air conditioner. Use a vacuum with a crevice tool and soft brush attachment to handle the louvers and filters on your window unit, or the coils on a central air conditioner.

Regular cleaning can help keep your air conditioner in peak shape—and reduce your overall cooling bill.

9. Lamp Shades

When you're dusting, you may be paying more attention to the tabletop than the items on it—and lampshades are dust magnets. Pop the upholstery attachment onto your vacuum to help reduce the amount of dust collected on the shades.

10. Your Closet

Your closet floor, shelves, and walls gather plenty of dust, too—and odds are it's been a while since you've given them a good vacuum. Make a quick vacuum part of your weekly bedroom clean, but do a full-on clean whenever you're purging your wardrobe.

11. Under Your Bed

It can be hard to reach under there—especially if you have underbed storage that blocks your access, but under your bed can be an ideal hangout for a whole army of dust bunnies. If you can't remember the last time you vacuumed under your bed, now's the time to do it. (And maybe put it on your rotation for at least a monthly vacuum!)

P.S. This is the perfect job for a robot vacuum!

12. Refrigerator Coils

You know you're supposed to clean your refrigerator's coils to keep it running efficiently. But have you vacuumed them lately? Cleaning the coils takes only a few minutes using the hose attachment of your vacuum—and should be done at least once a year. (Aim to do it more often if you have pets or your house tends to get dusty.)

13. Your Dryer's Lint Trap

Your clothing lets off a lot of lint—and gradually, that can build up in your dryer exhaust, leading your dryer to work inefficiently or even potentially create a fire hazard—even if you pull off the stuff that's trapped in the lint trap after every dryer load. Use your vacuum with a crevice tool to clean out the lint trap and inside the dryer beneath it to remove the lint.

14. Your Car Trunk

When you detail your car, you're probably more focused on the dirt and crumbs where you sit, but your trunk is very likely to be in desperate need of a good deep clean. Clear out any items in there and vacuum it when you're doing the rest of the car.

Source: https://www.realsimple.com/things-you-should-vacuum-but-are-not-8717239